Oral care devices such as teeth whitening devices use light for illuminating the teeth. The light can be used for different purposes including teeth whitening in combination with a whitening gel or varnish, plaque or bacteria hygiene by use of disinfecting UV light or other purposes. In order to be effective, the intensity of the light need to be sufficiently high. It is also important that the light has a uniform intensity distribution over the teeth. In order to avoid damage of the pulp in the pulp chamber of the teeth it is also important that heating of the teeth is kept safely below a critical temperature.
Accordingly, there is a need for an oral care device which addresses one or more of these requirements. Accordingly, there is a need for an oral care device which is capable of illuminating the teeth with a sufficiently high intensity, with a uniform intensity distribution, and which only causes acceptable heating of the teeth.
There is also a need for oral care devices for home use. Accordingly, in order to make devices feasible for home use, manufacturing costs may be important and, therefore, a design which enables manufacturing for home use may be needed.
US2007/0224570A1 discloses a device that attaches to one or more light sources to transmit and distribute light energy simultaneously across the arches of upper and lower teeth for dental tooth whitening and photo initiation of light curing resins while at the same time retaining the benefits of the light sources to be used for individual tooth whitening and curing.
The inventor of the present invention has appreciated that an improved oral care device is of benefit, and has in consequence devised the present invention.